—What was that that just happened? There was a body here just seconds ago —said the confused boy—. And what were those strange flames? Who are you exactly?

Aiden bombarded her with questions, but received no response apart from a cold look. Now that the immediate danger was dealt with, another matter to take care of had been pushed forward.

He noticed something was off, and her suspicions were confirmed when Maika suddenly turned to tried to hit him with a back kick to the head.

The movement was so fast and beautifully executed, but Aiden didn't have time to applaud the action. He dodged the kick by jumping backwards a few steps right before Maika threw the kick.

Aiden didn't practice any kind of martial art, and even his makeshift street fighting style, which was all he had to defend himself, would not have been sufficient to block the kick and come out unscathed.

Some sort of animalistic danger instinct was activated, showering him in a bad feeling, and thanks to that he was able to react in time. He virtually had no ability, nor did he have any useful experience that would allow him to dodge the surprise attack. It was pure survival instinct that made his body react preventively. And knew immediacy, by the whip-like-sound of the air being pushed, that if it had connected, it would have been more than enough to knock him out.

He didn't have exactly the words to name it, but for an experienced mercenary, that thrilling feeling in the neck and heavy in the air was unmistakable; that would call it an attempted murder.

—What are you doing!? Why did you try to hit me out of nowhere! —He claimed, keeping his privileged distance.

Maika took a second to process what she had just done. Maybe because of the recent fight with the monster, she let her emotions get the better of her for a brief moment. She relaxed her rigid expression a bit, then let out a heavy sigh, and then charged towards Aiden once again with the intent to knock him out.

The girl was not just wildly throwing punches. Quite the opposite. Almost as a demonstration of her skill, it was notable that she was holding back, trying not to cause unnecessary harm to Aiden.

The young man continued miserably backing away, doing his best to evade the punches or block a few which, certainly, didn't carry the severity or sharpness of the first kick; but still hurt a lot to receive Maika's barrage with just his arms.

—Please…! S-stop! —said Aiden, holding both arms over his stomach after being forced to back up almost a whole meter by a kick—. Why are you doing this?

Maika had no intention of stopping until the lights of the boy gasping for air in front of her were out; however, she did exactly what Aiden asked her to. Maybe she felt she owed him at least that for the scare before.

—It's my fault that you were in a dangerous situation that had nothing to do with you —Said Maika with a cold look, that didn't change, but this time small tinges of remorse were present in her voice—. Now that everything is over, my magic and I will take care of you being well, that's all.

—But what are you talking about!? What are you going to do to me!?

The confused young man had no idea what Maika was trying to do, in fact, he had a vague idea of what would happen to him if she caught him. She had said, “my magic” after all; whatever that meant.

All this was ridiculous; however, having seen the monster before and the things she did, the idea that the supernatural existed was not at all absurd now.

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He thought about it for a moment, but he didn't understand anything about magic or about that monster just a moment ago. He only knew that he had just seen something he shouldn't have and there's always a pattern for those situations; so, without wasting any more time catching his breath, Aiden turned his back to Maika and ran away.

—Stay still! —Shouted Maika, even though she let the young man run free, taking a moment to catch her breath before sprinting for him.

Aiden felt his heart being squeezed by an invisible hand as he ran, partly because of the persistent echoes of horror; the idea of what would happen if he was caught by whom, until recently, was just a psychopath in his eyes; there was something else, however, behind that feeling, that something reacted to a part of what Maika said before in her statement that he hadn't liked at all.

Instead of focusing all his concentration on what was in front of him to avoid tripping, he kept attentive to what the girl had to say.

—This is something that doesn't have to do with you and your peaceful life. Don't worry, I'll make sure to take care of all those monsters to protect your normal life and everyone's in this city.

Her words resonated in Aiden's head, again that feeling was there, instead of feeling calm by such comforting words that anyone in his situation would want to hear, he felt incredibly irritated.

—Well… Sorry for not wanting to get hit!

He ran with Maika on his heels, she was much faster than he expected; they went past a small greenhouse, which was more like an indoor garden, until they reached from the green area to an intersection of covered paths connecting a building in each direction.

With a wall at his back and a railing to his right at waist height, Aiden faced Maika. He didn't have time to jump over the railing, he knew that if he tried, his pursuer would easily catch him mid-jump, putting himself in a more than uncomfortable situation.

Finally, with the boy cornered between buildings, Maika let out a subtle smile of victory.

She approached in a straight line towards Aiden, but he was already expecting that, when she charged towards Aiden, he did the same. Just when their bodies were about to meet, he took advantage of Maika's surprise at this reckless move of his; in that second when she hesitated, passing by her, he abruptly changed direction with a diagonal jump over the railing; similar to the technique used in the Olympic sport of high jump.

He made a half turn in the air; the raw impact was shoulder first and back second, finishing the roll by rolling on the ground and running towards the nearest building, where he would have more opportunity to lose her and then escape.

Maika watched absorbed, and honestly, pleasantly surprised at the feat being completed without intervening, not for the mediocre acrobatics, but for Aiden's bravery for daring to compete with her. She couldn't help but praise him in her heart.

At the same time, however, the other side was thinking: «Ahh! What the hell is all of this? The damned tried to knock me out».

Fortunately, the door was open, he didn't even have to use his ID, he just had to push it to enter the building.

«But what irks me the most is how she decided on her own that she has to fight alone. Dammit! Does she think I didn't notice how she struggled to pull the trigger? I can't believe I thought she was just a murderer, a monster».

He ran scared through the halls of the building and hid in one of the random classrooms.

«Is there really nothing I can do for her?»

The plan was simple. Hide for a few minutes while he contacted the police and sneak through the window to hide somewhere else. But just as the thought of safety crossed his mind, an unbearable humming sound, like something vibrating at full revolution, directly aimed at his ears made him scream in disgust and pain.

Listening for much longer would start making his ears bleed, of that much he was sure. In an attempt to get away from the noise, Aiden came out of the classroom to the hallway where “it” was, waiting for him patiently.

—What the hell!?!?

Pieces of paper the size of playing cards were stuck all over the hallway. All the cards had the same strange symbol and emitted a mysterious and alarming sensation.